Catarina Macario picked up a winner’s medal as the USA claimed a record seventh SheBelieves Cup title in the early hours of Wednesday morning, defeating Canada on penalties in the 2024 final in Ohio.

The Blues striker remained on the bench throughout this final, although she played her part earlier in the tournament after featuring in the semi-final victory over Japan. Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence were both in the starting line-up for Canada.

It was the Canadians who took the lead, only for the USA to fight back to 2-1, before former Chelsea player Crystal Dunn gave away a late penalty which was converted to make it 2-2. That was how it remained, meaning the champions would be decided by a penalty shootout.

Lawrence netted Canada’s sixth spot-kick, but their next was missed, allowing the USA to triumph in the final for the fifth successive year.

In the third-place play-off, Maika Hamano started for Japan and set up Minami Tanaka’s opening goal midway through the first half. However, Hamano was withdrawn shortly after half-time and was powerless as Brazil equalised and Japan missed all three efforts in the decisive shootout.

Also in America, Mayra Ramirez found the net as Colombia made it two wins out of two from a pair of friendlies in the USA. This time she came off the bench in the second half with her side leading 1-0 but down to 10 players following a red card.

She made her mark in the 78th minute, though, picking up the ball just inside the opposition half and continuing forward into the box before firing Colombia 2-0 up from a tight angle. They added a late third to make it a comfortable victory over Guatemala by the final whistle.